For context, a C130 can airdrop 21 tons of cargo. So if the use case is delivery of humanitarian aid in zones without landing strips, Pathfinder is still really far from a viable replacement of current aircraft.
For context, a C130 can airdrop 21 tons of cargo. So if the use case is delivery of humanitarian aid in zones without landing strips, Pathfinder is still really far from a viable replacement of current aircraft.
Hangar One at Moffett (where Pathfinder is) is 348,964 sqft while the largest airship hangar ever built was the Aerium hangar at 851,500 although they didn't wind up building the big airship that was supposed to go along with it and converted it into an indoor rainforest resort and waterpark.
The biggest issue would be to have a wide span without columns. But those are long shapes: if you can make a gate 50 m tall (18 floors) and 50 m wide (the Golden Gate bridge has a 1,280 m span between each tower), you can build 10 gates in a row and have enough room for a dirigible with a 45 m diameter and as long as you need, but 300 m seems doable.
This prototype is 20 m wide and 124.5 m long, so if you scale it to 45 m x 45 m x 300 m, you might get something that can carry about twelve times more than this one.
I would imagine that they have plans to tether a few of these together, load up the cargo, and fly it around un-populated areas to build a distribution network. Perhaps tethering them can also mean overall stability and resistance to wind effects, something like an air train. Maybe, a small aircraft can lock-in to the first one and simply pull it along at higher speeds?
Assuming they can fly at about 50 MPH, can be automated and can fly day and night with minimal energy consumption, companies like Amazon and FedEx would be interested.
Not to mention tourism applications, surveying, etc.